Apparatus for producing underwater oil fields



July 19, 1966 3,261,398

J. A. HAEBER APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING UNDERWATER OIL FIELDS Filed Sept. 4Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR JOHN A. HAEBER HIS AGENT July 19, 1966 J. A.HAEBER 3,261,398

APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING UNDERWATER OIL FIELDS Filed Sept. 12, 1963 4Sheets-Swat 2 25 ii 79 I P 11 75 \g 78 74 r 7s-% F I G. 9

INVENTOR JOHN A. HAEBER HIS AGENT July 19, 1966 HAEBER 3,261,398

APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING UNDERWATER OIL FIELDS Filed Sept. 12, 1963 4Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR:

JOHN A. HAEBER H|S AGENT FIG. 4

J. A. HAEBER 3,261,398 APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING UNDERWATER OIL FIELDSJuly 19, 1966 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Sept. 12, 1963 INVENTOR:

JOHN A. HAEBER BYi e United States Patent 3,261,398 APPARATUS FORPRODUCING UNDER- WATER OIL FIELDS John A. Haeber, Houston, Tex.,assignor to Shell Oil Company, New York, N.Y. a corporation of DelawareFiled Sept. 12, 1963, Ser. No. 368,531 16 Claims. (Cl. 166-.5)

This invention is directed to apparatus for producing underwater oil andgas fields wherein the wellhead assembly mounted on the top of each wellis positioned at a substantial distance below the surface of a body ofwater and is preferably positioned on the ocean floor.

A recent development in the oil industry is the development of oiland/or gas fields which are located underwater and oftentimes at asubstantial distance, say to 100 miles offshore. Since well structureswhich extend to a point about the surface of the water form navigationhazards for ships operating in the vicinity, a new development has beenthe placement of the wellhead assemblies on the ocean floor. Wells ofthis type are presently produced by running the production flow linesfrom the Well to shore or to a stationary production facility mounted onpiles at an offshore location. The use of flow lines running to shorelimits the production of wells located many miles from shore as theoil-producing formation which is traversed by the well must be undersubstantial pressure so as to provide suflicient pressure to produce theoil and other well fluid up the well and then to overcome the frictionalresistance encountered in the many miles of flow line extending toshore. On the other hand, the use of stationary production platforms islimited to rather shallow water depths as it is very costly to installsuch platforms in deep water and the cost would be prohibitive toconstruct and install stationary platforms for oil field purposes indeep Water, say over 400 feet in depth.

It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provideapparatus for producing underwater oil fields wherein the wellheadassemblies are positioned on the ocean floor in water of any depth.

A further object of the present invention is to provide apparatus forreducing, or minimizing, the wells tubing pressure (pressure in theproduction tubing at the Wellhead) and thereby (l) prolong the wellsperiod of natural flow (if any), (2) increase the production rate of thewell, and (3) reduce the amount of lift gas required to produce the wellafter natural flow has either "ceased or declined to where the use oflift gas is beneficial.

Another object of the present invention is to provide methods andapparatus for supporting flow lines and other field collecting anddistribution lines extending from the ocean floor to a position near thesurface of a body of water.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide apparatusfor supporting vertically-extending well flow lines and other fieldcollecting and distributing lines above the ocean floor while providingmeans for connecting the flow lines to a suitable vessel at the surfacefor receiving the production fluid from the wells.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide apparatusfor handling a multiphase production fluid from an underwater oil fieldwhereby the gaseous phase of the production fluid may be separated fromthe oil 3,261,398 Patented July 19, 1966 "ice phase before the oil phaseis raised above the ocean floor.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide apparatusfor separating a multiphase oil production fluid in a vessel at thesurface of the ocean and returning the oil phase of the production fluiddown to storage facilities positioned on the ocean floor.

These and other objects of this invention will be understood from thefollowing description when taken with reference to the drawing, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a synoptic view illustraitng an underwater oil field havinga plurality of wells drilled therein and connected to a productionfacility on the ocean floor which in turn is connected in fluidtightcommunication wih a vertically-extending cylindrical strucure positionedin the ocean floor and extending upwardly to a point near the oceansurface where it is connected with a floating vessel or productionfacility on the surface, the production facility on the surface alsobeing in communication with suitable storage tanks located on the oceanfloor;

FIGURE 2 is a longitudinal view diagrammatically illustrating thevertically-extending elongated cylindrical structure which extends intothe ocean floor and is anchored therein;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the line 33 ofFIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged longitudinal view, taken partially incross-section, illustrating a pump mechanism carried within the verticalcylindrical structure of FIG- URE 2;

FIGURES 5 and 6 are fragmental views, taken partial ly in cross-section,illustrating one method of connecting underwater pipelines to thevertical cylindrical structure of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 7-7 of FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 8-8 of FIGURE 7;and,

FIGURE 9 is a fragmental view taken in the longitudinal cross-section ofone form of a means for connecting pumping apparatus to the top of thevertical cylindrical structure of FIGURE 2.

Referring to FIGURE 1 of the drawing, a plurality of underwater wellsare illustrated with their Wellhead assemblies 11, 11a and 11bpositioned on the ocean floor 12. Each production wellhead assembly, forexample Wellhead assembly 11, is provided with at least one flow line 13and preferably two flow lines 13 and 14 whereby the well productionfluid may be taken away through one line, and, if necessary, gas may bepumped down through the other line during later well life in order toproduce the well. The other wellhead assemblies 11a and 11b are alsoprovided with dual flow lines 13a, 14a and 13b, 14b, respectively. I

The production flow lines from the various underwater wells preferablylead to a production facility, generally represented by numeral 15,which is located on the ocean floor and is normally centrally locatedamong the wells which are connected to it. The production facility 15may be of various types. For example, the production facility 15 may bemerely a manifolding station Where the production fluids from theseveral wells are combined so that they can be delivered by a singleflow line to a distant terminal. On the other hand, the productionfacility 15 may also-be provided with suitable metering devices formetering the individual flow from each of the Wells prior to combiningthe several flows and sending them to the distant terminal.

As most oil is combined with gas in many oil fields, the productionfacility is preferably provided with suitable separators 16 forseparating the gas from the oil before flowing the oil to the distantterminal. While high pressure gas separators 16 may be employed early inthe life of the well, the production facility 15 is also preferablyprovided with low pressure gas separators 17 for use during the latterpart of the well life. The production facility 15 may have a base frame18 secured to the ocean floor and equipped with guide columns 19 onwhich a central removable frame 26 is positioned. The variousmanifolding lines and separators 16 and 17 are secured to and areremovable with the inner frame 20 which is also preferably provided witha track 21. The track is employed in order to facilitate ease ofpositioning an underwater manipulator device adapted to open and closevalves or to connect or disconnect various flow lines one from theother. Each of the flow lines coming to the production facility 15 isprovided with a remotely-actuatable pipe connector 22 of any type wellknown to the art so that the flow lines may be disconnected from theproduction facility 15 before the central removable frame 20 and itsassociated equipment are pulled back to the surface for maintenance orrepairs.

The fiowlines coming from the production facility 15 may be boundtogether in the form of a single bundle of lines 24, as illustrated inFIGURE 1. If the production facility 15 is merely a manifolding station,only a single flowline 24 would be needed during the early life of thewells. However, if the wells were produced by gas lift during the latterpart of their life, the bundle of lines 24 should at least consist of aproduction flowline leading away from the production facility 15 and agas line extending to the production facility 15 and thence on theindividual wells 11, 11a and 11b. In the event that the productionfacility 15 also includes gas separation apparatus, the bundle of lines24 should preferably include separate gas lines for high and lowpressures to and from the high and low pressure gas separators 16 and17, respectively. Additional lines may connect the production facility15 with a distant terminal so that various types of well maintenancetools or instruments can be pumped down to the production facility 15 orto any of the individual wells for carrying out certain selectedoperations. It is to be understood that in an oil field having a greatnumber of wells a plurality of production facilities 15 would bestrategically located among the many wells.

Positioned at some distance from the production facility 15 is afree-head pile in the form of a large-diameter elongated andvertically-positioned cylindrical structure having its lower end closedin a fluid-tight manner .and sunken and anchored to the ocean floor. Theupper end of the elongated tubular or cylindrical structure is locatedbelow the surface 26 of the ocean so as to be relatively unaffected bywind and wave forces and so that it does not constitute a hazard tonavigation of ships in the area. For example, in water 1,000 feet deepthe vertical cylinder may have 900 feet extending above the ocean floor12, while several hundred feet are sunk in the ocean floor to anchor itsecurely in a vertical position. The vertical cylindrical structure maybe in the order of 6 feet in diameter in its preferred form and as muchas 2 inches in wall thickness to give it substantial rigidity. Thevertical cylinder 25 may be originally transported to its offshorelocation on a series of barges or the ends of the cylinder 25 may beclosed so as to aid in floating the structure to its desired location.The lower end of the vertical cylinder 25 may be jetted into the oceanfloor in a manner well known to the art or it may be provided with alarge diameter bit or series of bits mounted on a rotatable housing ofthe type well known to the art for drilling large-diameter holes. Afterdrilling or jetting the lower end of the vertical cylinder 25 into placein the ocean floor, the walls at the lower end of the vertical cylinder25 and/or the bottom thereof would be perforated so that cement could bepumped down the vertical cylinder 25, out the perforations and up theannular space between the vertical cylinder and the ocean floorformations so as to cement the vertical cylinder or freehead pile 25 inplace in a manner well known to the art.

Preferably, the vertical cylindrical structure 25 is provided with abuoyancy tank 26a near its upper end for maintaining a tension thereon.As shown in FIGURE 2, the vertical cylinder 25 is also provided atspaced intervals along its length with a plurality of radially-extendingsupport plates 27, 27a and 27b for supporting and securing the manyfiowlines, such as flowline 28 to the vertical cylindrical structure 25.Thus, it may be seen that the vertical cylindrical structure 25 servesas substantially rigid support means for the major length of the manyfiowlines extending from the ocean floor 12 to the floating productionfacility generally represented by numeral 30 (FIG. 1) which floats onthe surface of the ocean 26. By using the vertical cylindrical supportstructure 25 of the present invention, a smaller floating productionfacility or a floating production facility with less buoyancy can beemployed as the floating production vessel 30 only supports theflowlines between the vessels 30 and the top of the vertical cylinder 25rather than having to support the thousands of feet of steel flowlineextending from such a production vessel 30 to the various wells orproduction facilities on the ocean floor when the production vessel 30is positioned in, say, 1,000 feet of water. In the event that flexiblefiowlines are used, a greater number of support plates 27 would beemployed as needed to prevent the flexible flowline from pulling apartunder its own weight.

It is apparent that with floating production units, some motion of theplatform is certain to occur regardless of how sophisticated a mooringsystem is used. This motion will chafe and deteriorate the lines hangingfrom the facility, and the loss hazard will be particularly high duringstormy periods. If the lines are hanging free from the productionfacility deck, the lines are likely to part at or near the sea floorwhen failure takes place. However, when the lines are supportedthroughout a large portion of the sea floor to production facility deckinterval of the present invention, with flexible pipe being used onlyfor the free hanging portion between the top of the free-head pile andthe production facility, the locus of failure is concentrated near thesea surface. Replacement of parted and damaged lines in this intervalcan be accomplished with relative ease and speed and at much less costthan if the failure had occurred at or near the sea floor. Thus,although use of floating production platform probably necessitatesaccepting higher failure rates of flow lines and collecting anddistribution lines, the economic consequences of these failures can beat least partially controlled by controlling the location of thefailures by employing the apparatus of the present invention.

The floating production facility 30 may be a vessel of any suitable formwhich is maintained substantially di rectly over the elongated verticalcylinder 25 in any manner well known to the art. Thus, the productionvessel 30 may be flexibly anchored in place by a series of anchors andanchor lines (not shown) or the vessel may be provided with a series ofpropulsion units adapted to move the vessel in any direction so as tomaintain it substantially over the vertical cylinder 25. One form of aproduction vessel may be triangular, as shown, with the hull made up ofbuoyancy cylinders 31, 32, and 33 at the corners while theinterconnecting cross bracing members 34 are preferably hollow and formstorage tanks for the oil produced from the wells until such time theoil is delivered to a tanker or barge 35. In the event that gas is notseparated from the production fluid at the ocean floor productionfacility (FIGURE 1), the floating production vessel 30 is provided withsuitable separating apparatus for separating gas and/or water from theoil produced. In addition to separators, the floating production vesselmay be provided with heater-treaters or other demulsifying apparatus,metering tanks, etc. Although only two flowlines 37 and 38 are shown inFIG- URE l as extending between the top of the vertical cylinder and theproduction vessel 30, it is to be understood that these may be bundlesof flowlines or other flowlines may extend individually between thevessel and the vertical cylinder 25. In addition, power lines 39 extendfrom the production vessel to suitable pumping apparatus whose powerunits are located at the top of the vertical cylinder 25, as will bedescribed hereinbelow.

As illustrated in FIGURE 1, the apparatus of .the present invention mayalso include a series of interconnected storage tanks 40 to 45preferably positioned in a frame 46 which in turn is anchored to theocean floor 12. A flowline 47 extends from the interconnected tanks 40to 45 and includes an oil conduit extending up the vertical cylinder 25and to the production vessel 30. Thus, the ocean floor storage tanks 40to 45 may serve as auxiliary storage capacity for the production vessel30 in the event that the tanker is delayed due to storms, etc. Anysurplus oil that cannot be held in the storage tanks in the crossmembers'34 of the production vessel 30 may be pumped down fiowline 47 alongsidethe vertical cylinder 25 and into any of the tanks to 45. The oil couldbe returned to the vessel in any suitable manner as by means of seawaterdisplacement. The lowest point on the tanks is left open to the seawater to bleed off b.s. and w. (basic solids and Water) and to equalizeinternal and external tank pressures to avoid bur-sting or collapsingthe tanks. Therefore, it is necessary to pump crude oil into the tankswith a pressure equivalent to the difference between the sea water headand the crude oil head. For unloading the tanks, it is necessary only toopen a valve on the crude line at the surface to permit the sea waterhead to displace crude from the tanks. If withdrawal rates higher thanthose obtainable by sea water displacement are required, the flow ratecan be increased by pumping or gas-lifting the crude. For emergencypurposes, it may be desirable in some cases to arrange the flowlines andmanifold in a manner such that the well production fluid passing throughthe flowline bundle 24 can flow directly into the storage tanks 40 to inthe event of power failures on the production vessel 30. This could bedone rather than shut in the wells.

As shown in FIGURE 2, a pump motor housing 50 is illustrated as beingpositioned on the top of the vertical cylinder 25 and secured thereto asby means of any suitable connector 51. The pump housing is shown ingreater detail in FIGURES 4 and 7 as enclosing one or more pump motors,in this case three pump motors 52, 53 and 54 with the discharge lines 55and 56 from the smaller pumps 52 and 53 being connected to the maindischarge line 57 from the large pump 54 so that only one productionfluid line 57a extends between the pump housing 50 and the productionvessel 30. The discharge lines 55, 56 and 57 may be provided with checkvalves 58, 59 and 60. A plate 61 closes the bottom of the pump housing50 and maintains it separated in a fluidtight manner from the interiorof the vertical cylinder 25. As shown in FIGURE 4 a discharge pipe 62extends through the plate 61 and out through the wall of the pumphousing 50 through a flexible line to the production vessel 30 so as todischarge any gases accumulating at the top of the vertical pile orcylinder 25 below the plate 61. The electrical leads 39 may enter thevalve housing 50 through the same wall as the pipe 57a (FIGURE 7). Thepump motors 52, 53 and 54 are arranged to drive shafts or rods 63, 64and 65, respectively, of suitable centrifugal or deep well pumps 66, 67and 68 respectively. Preferably, the capacitie of the pumps are selectedso that the large pump will run all the time and one or more of thesmall pumps will be run in an on-and-oif manner so that the productionfluid in the vertical cylinder 25 is maintained at the desired level.Preferably, the liquid level in the vertical cylinder 25 is maintainednear the lower end thereof close to the inlet (see conduit 24a and inletport 82 of FIG- URE 5) for the production fluid so that there is littlehydrostatic head being applied to the low pres sure-gas-oil separatorsat the production facility 15 (FIGURE 1). Hence, with or withoutemploying the ocean-floor production facility 15 between the wellhead 11and vertical cylinder 25, by maintaining the level of production fluidlow in the vertical cylinder 25 the wells would have less of ahydrostatic head against which to produce. Thus, it may be seen that byemploying the vertical cylinder 25 of the present invention as areceiver having little or no hydrostatic head applied thereto, that lowpressure wells could be produced, or old wells could be produced for alonger part of their life, before resorting to gas lift methods.

Any suitable type of liquid-level controller may be employed to controlthe liquid level within the vertical cylinder 25. In one commercial formof a liquid-level controller an open-ended pipe is immersed into theliquid body and air is pumped through. As the hydrostatic head builds uparound the pipe and it is harder to discharge the air from the pipe, asensing device on the vessel will indicate this change in liquid leveland start one of the pumps which runs until the liquid level has beenagain reduced to the desired point. In FIGURE 4, the vertical cylinder25 is shown as having a 2 inch line 69 extending down to a predeterminedlevel above the uppermost pump 68. This pipe 69 would be incommunication with the vessel through a flexible line 70 (FIGURE 2). Thepumps 66, 67 and 68 are suspended from shaft housing 71, 72 and 73 whichsurround the shafts 63, 64 and 65, respectively.

The pump housing 50 is removably secured to the top of the verticalcylinder 25 so that maintenance work can be done on the pumps asrequired. Although bolts could be unbolted by a suitable underwatermanipulator as will be described hereinbelow, the housing may beprovided instead with a suitable hydraulic or mechanical connector. Oneform of a suitable connector is shown in FIGURE 9 wherein the innersurface of the vertical cylinder 25 is provided with annular grooves 74therein adapted to receive outwardly-extendible latching dogs 75 carriedby a downwardly-extending wall 76 of the pump housing 50. The wall 76has formed therein an annular chamber in which an'annular piston 78 isslidably mounted for a limited vertical movement. Hydraulic pressure canbe supplied through conduits 79 or 80 to the top or bottom of the piston72 to either lock or unlock the latching dogs 75 item the groove 74.Thus, when it was desired to remove the pump housing and pumps from thevertical cylinder 25, the latching dogs 75 of the connector 51 would beretracted and the whole housing and pumps would be pulled back to theproduction vessel by any suitable hoistmg means.

Arranged near the bottom of the vertical cylinder 25 just above theocean floor 12 (FIGURE 5) are one or more fluid inlet ports 82 throughwhich production fluid is delivered to the vertical cylinder 25 from aproduction line 24a which is in turn connected to the ocean floorproduction facility 15 (FIGURE 1) or directly to one of the wells. Thepipe 24a may be originally connected to the vertical cylinder 25 bylowering it by means of a line 83 into a V-grooved or U-shaped openingat the top of an aligning and support bracket 85 secured to the outersurface of the vertical cylinder 25. A coupling 86 having anoutwardlyextendible telescoping sleeve 87 is provided at the fluid inlet82 in order to connect to the free end of the production line 24a in afluidatight manner. A coupling of this type is shown and described indetail in the applicants copending patent application Serial No.308,530, filed September 12, 1963, which describes a coupling employinga track and pinion arrangement for connecting the coupling.

The sleeve 87 may be moved outwardly in any suitable manner as by meansof turning the actuating nut 8%. For this purpose an underwatermanipulator may be employed which is either suspended from a track 90secured to the outside of the vertical cylinder 25, or may be of thetype that rests on the ocean floor while carying out operations. Anunderwater manipulator of this type is described in US. Patent 3,099,316and includes a body member 91 provided with wheels 92 for propelling itaround the track 90, propulsion units 93 for moving it through thewater, a support and/ or power cable 94, a unit g5 containing lights anda television camera, as well as an extendible arm 96 having a wrenchhead 97 at the end thereof for manipulating various elements such asactuating bolt 88 on the connector 86. As described in US. Patent3,099,316, the arm 96 of the manipulator device may be telescoped in orout, raised up or down, or rotated as desired to carry out the necessaryoperations.

In FIGURE 6 the underwater manipulator device described with regard toFIGURE 5 is shown as being employed to connect another :form of coupling98 by turning its actuating screw 99 so as to connect lines 28 and 24!)together in a fluidtight manner.

It may be seen from the above description that a method has beenprovided for producing deep water oil and gas field in which a pluralityof wells have been drilled. The method includes the steps of installinga large-diameter vertical cylinder on the ocean floor with the upper endbelow the surface of the ocean, producing well fluids from the wellsinto the lower portion of the cylinder, providing a vessel on thesurface of the ocean in the vicinity of the cylinder, connecting theinterior of the cylinder in fluid communication with the ve sel, andsubsequently pumping well fluid from the cylinder to the vessel,preferably maintaining the level of the fluid in the cylinder in thelower portion thereof so as to reduce any hydrostatic head in thecylinder which would reduce the ability of the wells to produce undertheir own pressure. In addition, when the well production fluid containsgas the present method is altered to include the operation of separatingthe gas from the well fluid before the fluid enters the verticalcylinder. Alternatively, the method of the present invention includesthe operation of separating a multiphase production fluid into itsvarious components at the vessel on the surface of the ocean, and in theevent that the storage capacity of the vessel is not suflicient,production fluid in the form of oil may be pumped back down to storagefacilities on the ocean floor.

I claim as my invention:

1. Apparatus for producing underwater wells having wellheads positionedbelow the surface of a body of water, said apparatus comprising:

a large-diameter elongated cylinder vertically positioned with its lowerend closed in a fluid-tight manner and sunk in and anchored to the oceanfloor and its upper end below the surface of the body of water, saidcylinder having port means through the wall thereof at a point near butabove the ocean floor,

an underwater production wellhead assembly positioned near the oceanfloor and having a production flowline,

first fluid flow conduit means interconnecting said roduction flowlineof said underwater wellhead assembly with the port means in saidelongated cylinder into which production fluid can be delivered,

pump means operatively mounted on said cylinder for pumping productionfluid therefrom, said pump means having discharge port means extendingfrom said cylinder near the top thereof,

a floating vessel including tank means, said vessel being positioned onthe surface of the body of Water in the vicinity of said verticalcylinder, and

second fluid flow conduit means internconnecting the discharge portmeans of said pump means with said tank means of said vessel.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said pump means comprises a pumphousing secured to the top of said vertical cylinder, a pump power unitpositioned for operation within said pump housing, .a pump suspended ata predetermined level within said vertical cylinder, and powertransmission means interconnecting said pump and the pump power unit.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 including power leads extending from saidvessel to said pump power unit on said ertical cylinder to actuate saidpower unit.

4-. The apparatus of claim 3 including connector means securing saidpump housing to the upper end of said vertical cylinder.

5. The apparatus of claim 4*. wherein said pump power unit is secured tosaid pump housing and said pump and power transmission means dependtherefrom and are emovable therewith.

6. The apparatus of claim ll including buoyancy tank means mounted onthe outside of said vertical cylinder ear the upper end thereof.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 including third fluid flow conduit meansbetween said vessel on the surface and said underwater wellheadassembly.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 including third conduit means incommunication between the vessel and said wellhead assembly forsupplying gas under pressure thereto.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 including a gas-separating facility on theocean floor and interposed in said first conduit means between saidwellhead and said vertical cylinder.

1 .3. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said first conduit means includesat least one production fluid flowline between said wellhead assemblyand said gas-separating facility, at least one liquid flowline betweensaid gas-separating facility and said vertical cylinder, and at leastone gas flowline between said gas-separating facility and said vessel.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 including separator means on said vessel incommunication with said second fluid flow conduit means for separatnig amultiphase hydrocarbon production fluid.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 including oil storage tank meanspositioned on the ocean floor and third conduit means in communicationbetween an oil discharge port of said separator means and said tankmeans on the ocean floor.

13. Apparatus for producing an underwater well having a wellheadassembly positioned adjacent the ocean floor, said apparatus comprising:

a large-diameter vertically-positioned elongated support cylinder havingits lower end sunk in and anchored to the ocean floor and its upper endbelow the surface of the ocean,

pipe support means secured to the outside of said support cylinder forsecuring a plurality of conduits thereto,

a floating vessel including tank means, said vessel being positioned onthe ocean surface in the vicinity of said support cylinder,

an underwater production wellhead assembly positioned near the oceanfloor, and

a production fluid flowline connected to and in communication with saidwellhead, said flowline extending from said wellhead, along the oceanfloor to said support cylinder, up the support cylinder while beingsecured thereto and upward to said vessel, said flowline being securedto said cylinder by said pipe support means.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 including oil storage tank meanspositioned on the ocean floor in the vicinity of said support cylinderand an oil conduit extending from said vessel to said storage tankmeans.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 including a second flowlineinterconnecting said wellhead and said vessel.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,594,105 4/1952Watts 137172 2,622,404 12/1952 Rice 1758X 10 Gillespie 137344 Knapp eta1 16645 McLean et a1 175--8 Cole et a1. 114-05 Timmennan et a1. 1140.5Huitt et a1. 166-46 CHARLES E. OCONNELL, Primary Examiner.

R. E. FAVREAU, Assistant Examiner.

1. APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING UNDERWATER WELLS HAVING WELLHEADS POSITIONEDBELOW THE SURFACE OF A BODY OF WATER, SAID APPARATUS COMPRISING: ALARGE-DIAMETER ELONGATED CYLINDER VERTICALLY POSITIONED WITH ITS LOWEREND CLOSED IN A FLUID-TIGHT MANNER AND SUNK IN AN ANCHORED TO THE OCEANFLOOR AND ITS UPPER END BELOW THE SURFACE OF THE BODY OF WATER, SAIDCYLINDER HAVING PORT MEANS THROUGH THE WALL THEREOF AT A POINT NEAR BUTABOVE THE OCEAN FLOOR, AN UNDERWATER PRODUCTION WELLHEAD ASSEMBLYPOSITIONED NEAR THE OCEAN FLOOR AND HAVING A PRODUCTION FLOWLINE, FIRSTFLUID FLOW CONDUIT MEANS INTERCONNECTING SAID PRODUCTION FLOWLLINE OFSAID UNDERWATER WELLHEAD ASSEMBLY WITH THE PORT MEANS IN SAID ELONGATEDCYLINDER INTO WHICH PRODUCTION FLUID CAN BE DELIVERED, PUMP MEANSOPERATIVELY MOUNTED ON SAID CYLINDER FOR PUMPING PRODUCTION FLUIDTHEREFROM SAID PUMP MEANS HAVING DISCHARGE PORT MEANS EXTENDING FROMSAID CYLINDER NEAR THE TOP THEREOF, A FLOATING VESSEL INCLUDING TANKMEANS, SAID VESSEL BEING POSITIONED ON THE SURFACE OF THE BODY OF WATERIN THE VICINITY OF SAID VERTICAL CYLINDER, AND SECOND FLUID FLOW CONDUITMEANS INTERCONNECTING THE DISCHARGE PORT MEANS OF SAID PUMP MEANS WITHSAID TANK MEANS OF SAID VESSEL.